# Remembering Challenger



## jazz lady

> At 11:38 am on #ThisDayInHistory in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral, FL. Seventy-three seconds later, the shuttle broke up in a forking plume of smoke and fire. There were no survivors.
















						Challenger Explosion
					

The NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft’s 10th mission. The




					www.history.com


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## DoWhat

I was in a ski lodge drinking a beer and watched it happen.
Sad, sad day.
Then a couple weeks later I left for boot camp.


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## RoseRed

I was sitting on the end of my bed putting on my socks to get ready for work.


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## Kyle

I was fueling up my truck in Trenton, NJ and thought heard it over the radio.


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## jazz lady

I worked from 11 pm to 7 am and decided to stay up to watch the launch, then go to sleep.  Horrible tragedy that shouldn't have happened. 

Remembering the Challenger Astronauts | Mental Floss


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## Monello

Down here folks are already camped out to view the possible SpaceX launch today.  We have an unobstructed view from the campground.


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## L'Town.girl

Serving overseas in Germany then. Saw it on the Day Room TV. Sad. I think Chernobyl wasn't too far after this too.


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## gemma_rae

I remember watching Ronald Reagan's statement and bawling my eyes out. "...they've left the surly bonds of earth, reached out, and touched the face of God". 

Shoot, my peeps are leaking right now.


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## Monello

It was Wednesday, Jan. 28th, it was cloudy in Naples. We were working the starboard watch out of supply. My partner is Schmuckatelli. The boss is El Tee. My name's Monello.


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## Kyle

Daaa, dah, dah, dah, daaaaaaaah.


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## glhs837

Monello said:


> Down here folks are already camped out to view the possible SpaceX launch today.  We have an unobstructed view from the campground.



They just removed the TFR, winds too high.


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## glhs837

I was at work fixing P-3s, Moffet Field, CA.


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## Sneakers

At home watching it on tv.  Because it was so unexpected, it took a few minutes for it to sink in that it had blown up.  Listening to the narrator at the launch center, he didn't react immediately either, adding to my surprise.


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## PrchJrkr

My father had passed away 10 days prior. I was still in a bit of a haze, but remember seeing it on TV. It took a while for me to realize that it really happened.


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## Grumpy

I was working a food truck and that morning I was listening via the radio. I had read in the paper (fake news back then,too) that the launch window ended at 1030am so when it didn't go by then, I quit listening. Someone later asked me if I heard about the space shuttle blowing up, I said that couldn't be because I thought it was scrubbed. Shocker, very sad day.

The year before I was working at NASA Goddard and Judy Resnick was up at Greenbelt for some reason and I gave her a tour of our computer facility. Very curious lady, lots of questions and very personable.

Wife worked for the Deputy Director at Goddard and they all watched as it happened. Wife said the Director at the time, Noel Hinners, collapsed in a heap when it happened.


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## Sneakers

Grumpy said:


> I was working a food truck and that morning I was listening via the radio. I had read in the paper (fake news back then,too) that the launch window ended at 1030am so when it didn't go by then, I quit listening. Someone later asked me if I heard about the space shuttle blowing up, I said that couldn't be because I thought it was scrubbed. Shocker, very sad day.
> 
> The year before I was working at NASA Goddard and Judy Resnick was up at Greenbelt for some reason and I gave her a tour of our computer facility. Very curious lady, lots of questions and very personable.
> 
> Wife worked for the Deputy Director at Goddard and they all watched as it happened. Wife said the Director at the time, Noel Hinners, collapsed in a heap when it happened.


Wow.  Talk about being close to it.


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## RoseRed

glhs837 said:


> I was at work fixing P-3s, Moffet Field, CA.


I was in Los Altos!


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## Kyle

Grumpy said:


> The year before I was working at NASA Goddard ...



Goddard was always my favorite field trip when I was in elementary school. 

At that time, the Air and Space Museum downtown was still in the Castle.


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## stgislander

I was a sophomore at Hagerstown Jr. College.  Got word of the explosion between classes.


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## Grumpy

Kyle said:


> Goddard was always my favorite field trip when I was in elementary school.
> 
> At that time, the Air and Space Museum downtown was still in the Castle.


Really enjoyed my time at Goddard, met a ton of interesting people working there from 1975 through 1983. Lot of golf, tennis and softball leagues for the employees/contractors and the xmas parties were crazy. Worked alot of midnight shifts and spent alot of afternoons at Pimlico or Laurel losing money. 

Was detailed there for 6 months(12 hour shifts,1 day off a week) when they launched the Hubble which showed me how stupid the press was. The group I worked with was responsible for the initial checkout of systems after the launch and, of course, they discovered the problem with the mirror. More than once after press conferences, I saw engineers explaining things to certain reporters so they could understand only to get it totally backwards in the news the next day(Kathy Sawyer of the WaPo most times). The Hubble was in partnership with the European Space Agency so there were a bunch of British engineers at Goddard, smart guys but when work was done, I never met a crazier group. I couldn't hang with them.


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## Loper

glhs837 said:


> I was at work fixing P-3s, Moffet Field, CA.


I grew up at Moffett Field '73 to '84


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## RoseRed

Loper said:


> I grew up at Moffett Field '73 to '84


Mountain View/Los Altos were my stomping grounds growing up.


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## Gilligan

Was having lunch at the Chief's Club, Indian Head ...watched it over and over on the big screen (projection) TV there.


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## frequentflier

I was working in Bonita Springs, FL and the landscape crew went up to the mechanics shed. They had the radio on, countdown and lift off. We all looked up and saw a big flash in the sky and then the announcement on the radio. 
I don't think a lot of work got done the rest of the day.


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## PeoplesElbow

I was in 6th grade at home on a snow day watching live.


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## Gilligan

SailorGirl said:


> Is that near Morningside MD?  I was stationed up that way - can't remember the name of the base Cheltenham maybe?  Naval Communications or something.


Indian Head...Naval Ordnance Station Indian Head back in the day....is located on Indian Head. I worked there as a rocket propulsion engineer...a “rocket scientist”, as it were..


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## Dakota

I was in high school and was outside the classroom with the teachers crying my eyes out.  A few of us students were.  My grandparents, at the time, ran a motel close to the space center.  When shuttles were launched, the entire world stopped.  I watched the one that went up before this one from the roof of my grandparents motel.


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